Alex saw a single item in the chest.

It was made of metal and about six inches long and four inches wide. Only as he reached for it and began to lift it, did he note its cylindrical shape. It was heavier than it looked and was made of a dark silver metal with streaks of blue alloy running through its surface like a frozen river.

“That’s it?” Mark asked, peering over his shoulder. “Just a fancy armband?”

Alex didn’t answer as he scanned the item and nearly dropped it in surprise.

He slid the bracer onto his left forearm. The metal was cool against his skin, but warmed up quickly. He reached out with his mind and intent toward the item to see if anything was in, and cursed on reflex. Where his spatial pouch felt close to the size of a small closet, and the ring had been able to store items equivalent to a dresser, the bracer’s space stretched out before his awareness like a warehouse.

Fuck…

Alex probed deeper. Unlike the other spatial items, where he could only recall what he’d stored through memory or a very vague sense, as if looking through a dense fog, this one let him see and feel what was inside with startling clarity.

“Books and crates… It’s like I can really see them.”

“It’s a high rarity C Rank spatial item,” Maelis chimed in. His voice carried an unusual amount of respect. “See this right here?” He used the illusionary function of the amulet to trace a section of the bracer near the wrist. “These enchanters knew what they were doing. These layered enchantments are done flawlessly. The item was made recently.”

Alex nodded absently as he reached into the spatial field. It felt like he was dipping his hand into cool water that somehow came out to meet his hand as he touched it on the metal. He felt his fingers brush against something solid and pulled out a tome.

“Philosophy?” Mark snorted as Alex read the cover. “The old man leaves you a super fancy magic bracer and fills it with homework?”

Alex forced his eyes to remain dry, though the tightening in his throat made him want to cough or throw up. He replaced the book and pulled out another. He looked at it and saw it to be another one on the philosophy of power… written by Eura Riuor. He flipped through the pages, and a folded piece of parchment slipped out and fluttered to the cavern floor.

Sam leaned down to retrieve it and handed it to Alex. “What is it?”

Alex unfolded the note, and his eyes immediately caught the first line written in an elegant, flowing script.

Those three words shattered something inside him, and the paper in his hand began to shake. His vision blurred instantly, and the grief he’d been burying since finding out Eura had died crashed through him like a tidal wave.

“Alex?” Sarah’s voice seemed distant.

A strangled sob escaped his throat. He tried to hold it back, but it only made it worse.

He sank to his knees as tears began streaming down his face. Memories flooded back all at once: finding Eura in the cave, still calm and composed, friendly even, after ten years of solitude; Eura's patient instruction and wisdom; the countless hours of training and advice; shared meals in his garden and calm reassurance when Alex doubted himself; long talks on philosophy and how power could change a person and shape a world.

Mark's strong arm wrapped around his shoulders, and Sarah knelt beside him. Sam stood nearby, his face etched with shared pain as he looked up at Eura's still form. Valtherion swooped down and whined several times while nuzzling Sam, before moving over to Alex and getting directly in his lap. Alex had never seen the bond be so frantic about getting close. Almost like a dog, Valtherion attempted to close the smallest space between them and shove his small head under Alex's chin while licking frantically, as if attempting to make up for his lack of communication skills with genuine affection.

"I'm sorry." He couldn't have said whether he was apologizing to his friends for breaking down or to Eura for not being there when his mentor needed him.

“Don’t be,” Sarah whispered. “You cared about him, and he took care of you and Sam when you needed it most.”

That simple truth and the echoing of his own thoughts in reverse made Alex cry harder. He hadn’t realized how much Eura had meant to him and how much he owed the powerful celestial until it was apparently too late. The calm man had filled a void he hadn’t known existed.

It had only been for two months. But in the most trying time of Alex’s entire life, Eura had been a mentor, a protector, and a guide. He’d shown Alex what he could become and had believed in him.

And now he was gone.

Leaving nothing but a note that began with the same words he’d used when they met.

Hello, Little Human.

Alex sat cross-legged on the cavern floor while leaning his back against the stone rise at the base of the dais. An hour had passed, and the initial wave of grief had faded to something more manageable. A dull headache hung behind his eyes, and he felt more exhausted than he thought he should be.

He smoothed the slightly wrinkled parchment across his knee and finally read past the first three words.

Nearby, Mark and Sarah had moved to a side of the chamber, practicing their mana manipulation exercises in hushed tones. Sam and Valtherion had disappeared down the tunnel to explore.

Taking a deep breath, Alex focused on the fancy script.

Alex paused and felt his heart begin to pick up pace. This was the first actual information he’d ever heard about his trait. He carefully turned over the page, but Maelis spoke up before he could read the poem.

“It’s not often you see people still seeking answers for those questions at his rank. Most people who make it past C Rank are rather set in their ways and have bathed in blood for decades. He sounds like the kind of celestial I could sit and smoke a pipe with.”

Alex gave a soft grunt and began to read the poem.

Alex thought over the poem for a moment before turning the note back over.

Maelis. You said you’d never heard of this stuff, right? The Primordials? You were swearing by Istrael’s chest the other day…

“I already told you, kid. I don’t know anything about any Primordials,” the spirit replied. “My knowledge of history is pretty extensive, but whatever your mentor’s talking about in this letter, I’ve never heard of it.”

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He continued reading.

Alex set the note to the side gently and placed his right hand on the bracer. He examined the crates through his mind’s eye and felt his excitement building. Unsure how to pull out an item so large, Alex stood to hold the bracer in front of himself at head height and then placed his right hand on its underside. While beginning to pull the crate from the storage, he also moved his hands further away from each other as if opening a curtain.

He carefully extracted the wooden box and let it rest on the cavern floor. It was sealed with dark, runic symbols that converged at a single piece of parchment with an open rectangle on it.

“Do you know these runes, Maelis?”

“Of course I do, brat. You’re not learning them any time soon, though. Learning runic arrays is well outside of what I can teach you at the moment. Don’t be greedy.”

Alex gave a snort and followed his instinct. He pulled a knife from his pouch and pricked his thumb. Squeezing it on both sides, he waited for a solid drop of blood to form and pressed it into the rectangle.

The parchment flashed with golden light before dissolving into motes that faded into the air. The box’s lid opened with a soft click.

Inside lay another leather-bound book, a sealed note, and dozens of neatly labeled packages. Alex recognized dried flowers and roots from Eura’s garden. They looked like rare herbs and preserved magical fruits.

“Spirit fruits!” Maelis exclaimed. It was so abnormal for the spirit to speak with that level of volume and excitement that Alex jumped and accidentally let go of the lid, causing it to close again. “And a white phoenix’s seedling, too. Your mentor gathered an impressive collection of materials. If he has more than this gated behind each rank, you will have a very solid foundation through your lower Ranks of power. Not just for yourself, but your friends too.”

Alex reached for the note while forcing himself to ignore the treasure trove of magical items and ingredients in the crate. Whatever Eura had prepared warranted his full attention.

Alex carefully folded the note and placed it beside Eura’s first letter. His throat tightened again, but it felt like a different emotion this time. The grief was wrapped up tightly by gratitude, hope, and determination.

“This is a serious gift, kid. It’s not likely a B Rank has much to give you as a D Rank, so he went out of his way to get something specifically to fit your kit. Normally, skills like this are a passive. If this body tempering ritual is strong enough to give you a trait, then it will be even better. He’s not wrong when he says it’ll be worth the pain if you can make it through.”

Alex flipped through the manual, which had copious amounts of notes on the ritual. It looked even more complex than the one to heal and strengthen his mana channels. It took three times more Mana Stones and several ingredients that Alex had no idea how he’d get if they weren’t included.

“What will you do?” Maelis asked. “You planned to use a body tempering ritual to heal and improve your damaged channels. Will you abandon that plan for this new ritual?”

“What? No witty remarks on which the obvious choice is?”

“No. This is your path. I can give you advice, but I’d suggest you first pick which you think is the better route.”

Alex looked down at his hands and flexed them while thinking of the pain that filled his channels every time he tried to pull on his mana.

“No,” he said finally. “I’ll heal my channels first. This ritual—” he tapped the book in his hands, “—it’s amazing and my Willpower is already starting to get abnormally high, even though I can’t utilize it… We’re planning to level a lot in the next few months, which means it’s going to skyrocket. But… if we want to live through the next few months, I need to be able to use my magic and progress it. I’ll save this for when I hit C Rank. I’ll need to do that before the Continental Event anyway.”

Maelis made a sound of approval. “Those titles seem to do your Wisdom well. I would just add that if you’re going to wait, don’t wait longer than you need to. When you hit C Rank, your Willpower will be very high with your trait. Not only that, but when your body adjusts after the threshold, you’re going to adapt to more of your stats. Don’t hold on to it longer than you need to.”

Next, Alex found a small slip of folded paper. When he read it, he saw more handwritten instructions, though it wasn't overly detailed. It simply stated that when Alex reaches D Rank, it's likely that the Heavenly Eye, as a growth item, would be ready to grow. Unfortunately, there would be nothing that he could do to make that happen. At least, not intentionally.

Eura explained that Growth Items were split into overarching sections and would react to appropriately rare materials to upgrade when they were ready. The upgrade material would determine the potential upgrade that was received with the growth, so finding the right material was important.

In a way, it reminded him of how Valtherion's evolution worked as a companion. The evolution item that Val consumed could make a large impact on future growth.

Alex turned the note over and saw that it was blank.

Anything to add to this, Maelis?

"No. I can give you more guidance, but there's no use. Like he said, there's nothing to be done until your growth item reacts to a material. Just don't use the first thing you find, and I'll tell you more whenever the time comes."

He nodded to himself and turned toward the tunnel, hearing flapping wings and boots on stone. He waved them over and called out to Mark and Sarah. He explained what was inside to them, and Maelis chimed in.

“The spirit fruits in there are good for all of you at D Rank, too. You can eat a few, but each one will have diminishing returns. They act as flat permanent boosts to some stats. I can’t believe there are so many, these are mostly considered natural treasures…”

Alex smiled and told his friends what Maelis was saying.

“He prepared all this for you?” Sarah asked with wide eyes.

“For us,” Alex corrected. “He left enough materials for everyone. “There’s plenty in here for each of us to go through body tempering rituals when everyone’s at D Rank.”

Mark put his arm around Alex, and Val spun around the two of them while chirping. Alex adjusted his hat and gave them all a smile. “Thanks, guys. I’m feeling a lot better. I… I just can’t believe he’s gone. He was just literally larger than life. It felt like he was a giant—”

“No, he literally is a giant,” Mark said with a grin.

Alex swung and clipped him on the shoulder.

“All right, so what’s the plan?” Sam asked.

“I think we stay here for the day. Eura left enough materials in here for me to do the rituals in the old book, so I should have what I need to heal my mana channels right now. You guys should use all the time you can to train.” Alex pointed to each of them in turn. “Mark, keep working on your mana manipulation. You’re already close to breaking through. Sarah, start with the printed [Dash] manual I gave you all. Sam, focus on [Meditate].”

Val chirped and butted his head against Alex’s shoulder.

“Yes, you too,” Alex smiled and rubbed the fluffed feathers between his wings. “You can work with Mark on mana manipulation.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t let him beat you. You’re supposed to be the mana noodle, after all.”

Alex reminded them all not to stop the ritual and that the mirage would be waiting outside the entrance near the garden to keep watch.

“Hey, dude! After this, you’ll be able to cast spells again, right?”

“Yeah?”

Mark grinned over his shoulder as he walked back to the side of the cavern with Sarah and pointed at his head. “Then you’ll have the hat, the wand, and the magic. You’ll be a proper wizard then!”

They all laughed, and Alex shook his head.

As the friends settled into their given tasks, Alex removed his notebook from the ring on his right hand and started to lay out the materials for his ritual. All the needed items were in the crate, and more. When Alex looked into the bracer again, he found several satchels of D Rank Mana Stones. When he removed one, he was startled by its weight. Taking a quick look inside, his eyes lit up with the reflection of purple light.

Hoooly…

A single sack contained easily a hundred crystals. He looked back into the bracer and saw that there were four others.

…shit.

He shook his head and began methodically arranging the ritual components according to his sketch. The crystal lotus pollen glistened in a small, oiled leather pouch that Eura had in the crate. When he looked inside, they glittered almost like shattered diamonds. The mushroom powder had a very musky scent that caused him to scrunch up his nose.

The part that he took the most time on was drawing out the ritual on the cavern floor. He borrowed Sarah’s lamp and pointed the two at different angles on the floor. When done, he placed the D Rank Mana Stones at each of the twelve nodes. Something about how they glowed purple clashed in Alex’s mind with what he had begun to think of as Mana Stones.

“This is it,” he said. “Once I start, I can’t stop until it’s done.”

Sam settled nearby with his staff across his lap. “I’ll be here if you need healing…”

Alex gave a grateful nod before seating himself carefully in the center node. He placed the remaining ingredients on his lap, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. His heart rate increased in anticipation of the pain to come, and he knew that he just needed to start it or he would begin to think of reasons not to go forward with the plan.

The stones pulsed with light as soon as he channeled mana into the ritual.

The initial sensation was warm, almost pleasant. It lasted only seconds.

Then came the fire.

Alex’s body jerked as liquid fire poured through every mana channel in his body. He bit down, clenched his teeth, and groaned loudly as the channels, which were already damaged, felt as though they were being dissolved and reforged at the same time.

Hours crawled by. Light from the glow of the stones and the lanterns danced across the cavern walls, and sweat soaked through Alex’s clothes. He fought to stay seated, not wanting to risk scraping the ritual if he fell onto his back. Occasionally, he’d have an involuntary spasm as the pain seemed to prod at a particular nerve or section of his back.

The stones dimmed one by one, giving him a sort of timeframe to follow. Much of the process was a blur, though once he opened his eyes and saw that there were still eight mana stones to go. He’d almost cried.

Sam remained vigilant throughout the process, occasionally casting healing spells on Alex to ensure he was okay. Mark and Sarah trained at a distance, casting worried glances toward their friend.

Near the four-hour mark, Alex’s skin began to darken in various patches. Thick, black fluid began to seep from his pores. At first, it was just a few droplets that pushed through, then it began to come through in rivulets. The acrid smell of corruption filled the air, and the entire group of friends came closer, concerned by the screaming.

When the last stone faded, Alex slumped forward and caught himself on trembling hands. The black sludge pooled around him and hissed softly as it splashed onto the stone floor.

“Alex?” Sam said cautiously.

Alex raised his head, eyes red-rimmed but clear. He lifted one shaking hand and summoned threads of mana.

They came instantly and without pain or effort. The threads were faster and more agile than he’d ever seen them. They appeared more defined in his vision and as he began to weave a spell circle in the air, he had to stop himself from cackling like a madman.

The mana responded to his call in a way he’d not even imagined possible before. The comparison was almost indescribable. The new Barrier Spell Circle formed perfectly and without issue. Each line fit into place perfectly, and when he set the rune with his mana, the spell circle flashed into existence for the barest moment before the translucent shield materialized in front of him.

Alex’s exhausted face broke into a triumphant smile. “It worked.”